Shailene Woodley and Margot Robbie are among the actors vying for the Rising Star prize at the British Academy Of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards in February (15).
The Fault in Our Stars actress, who rose to fame in Oscar-winning 2011 drama The Descendants, will compete against Miles Teller, her co-star in sci-fi movie Divergent, as well as Australian actress Robbie.
Unbroken star Jack O'Connell is also up for the award and the Brit admits he feels "honoured to be considered... amongst such a talented field". Belle star Gugu Mbatha-Raw rounds out the nominations.
The winner will be decided by public vote and announced during the BAFTA ceremony in London on 8 February (15). Previous recipients include James McAvoy, Shia LaBeouf and Kristen Stewart.

Birds do it, bees do it, even Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones do it. In fact, it seemed like just about every A-list star was doing it on the big screen this year, thanks to sex scenes featuring the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Michelle Williams, Daniel Craig, Marion Cotillard, Zac Efron, and Robert Pattinson. (Not all at once, mind you, although that would make for one heck of a must-see movie.)
But while many of Hollywood's biggest names shed their inhibitions — and, yes, oftentimes their clothes — this year for the sake of their art on film, it was rarely gratuitous or horrifying. (Okay, the sex scene in Cosmopolis was a little bit horrifying.) In honor of their bold and beautiful moves, we've ranked the very best sex scenes in movies in 2012. Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta — you know — do it. As to be expected, some of these photos are NSFW.
Wanderlust: Jennifer Aniston living at a free-love commune with Paul Rudd? The premise of this comedy sells itself. Unfortunately, it didn't sell too many tickets at the box office as it earned a disappointing $21 million. Still, that doesn't mean Aniston's sex scenes didn't get tongues wagging, particularly when she wound up in bed with Malin Akerman, Lauren Ambrose, and Kerri Kenney. Not to mention the hot on-screen chemistry of Aniston with her future fiance Justin Thoreaux.
Take This Waltz: Sure the coffee shop scene — in which Daniel (Luke Kirby) tells the married Margot (Michelle Williams) exactly what he'd do to her in bed in graphic, agonizing detail — is inarguably the most erotic part of Sarah Polley's indie drama, but the sex montage in which Daniel and Margot finally do get it on (sometimes, as we see, with a variety of different partners and positions) is still one of the best love scenes (plural) we saw all year.
Skyfall: The streamy (quite literally) scene between Daniel Craig and Bérénice Marlohe marks off a veritable checklist of sexy location scenarios: In the shower? Check. On a boat? Check. With Daniel Craig and/or Bérénice Marlohe ? CHECK, PLEASE.
The Sessions: The premise of the movie may sound clinical — a man with an iron lung (an Oscar-worthy John Hawkes) hires a professional sex surrogate (played by Helen Hunt) to help him lose his virginity — but the result is an emotional and yes, erotic, journey. After their many sessions of touching and talking, when they two finally consumate their relationship, it's worth the wait, in every sense of the word.
Rust and Bone: Like the violence in Jacques Audiard's haunting drama, the sex is just as unflinching and rooted in realism. After suffering a devastating injury that leaves her a double amputee, Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) is faced with learning to adapt to an entirely new life, including her sex life. Her first time, post-accident is with the handsome, troubled drifter Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts). Like The Sessions, Rust and Bone doesn't shy away from or sugarcoat the sex lives of the disabled, making for two of the most honest, refreshing, and sexy sex scenes all year.
Hope Springs: One could argue for the tender love scene between the once-struggling, romance-challenged older married couple Kay and Arnold (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) is one of the best sex scenes from 2012. But let's be honest: it's when the esteemed three-time Oscar winner/greatest actress of all-time pulls an Alanis Morissette and goes down on TLJ in a theater. That's one way to get out of a sex rut.
Cosmopolis: Sorry, Twihards, but this one takes the cake for sex scenes with R-Pattz in 2012. The dreamboat hunk receives a prostate exam in a scene that doesn't actually involve sex (though there are some in this infinitely bizarre David Cronenberg flick, including an alluded-to one with the timelessly sexy Juliette Binoche) but it sure was memorable, wasn't it?
The Lucky One: Speaking of heartthrobs all grown up into bona fide grown-up sex symbols, Zac Efron in the soapy Nicholas Sparks drama ups the shower sex ante and takes the action outside with Taylor Schilling. Sure, it's too glossy and too well-orchestrated to be taken seriously and it doesn't have the same effect as the famous The Notebook scene, but as far as PG-13 love scenes went this year, this one actually got hearts racing. Plus, it was a way to enjoy Efron without having to endure any Paperboy ickiness.
For A Good Time Call: Hey, phone sex counts.
Honorable Mention:
Titanic 3D: Yes, yes, we know the sex scene in Titanic technically constitutes as one of the best movie sex scenes in 1997, but you don't truly experience the sweaty, window-slamming sex between Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's Rose and Jack until you've experienced it in 3D.
[Photo credits: Universal; Magnolia Pictures; Fox Searchlight; Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Classics; Entertainment One; Fox Searchlight; Warner Bros.]
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There's an allure to imperfection. With his latest drama Lawless director John Hillcoat taps directly into the side of human nature that draws us to it. Hillcoat finds it in Prohibition history a time when the regulations of alcohol consumption were subverted by most of the population; He finds it in the rural landscapes of Virginia: dingy raw and mesmerizing. And most importantly he finds it in his main character Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf) the scrappy third brother of a moonshining family who is desperate to prove his worth. Jack forcefully injects himself into the family business only to discover there's an underbelly to the underbelly. Lawless is a beautiful film that's violent as hell striking in a way only unfiltered Americana could be.
Acting as the driver for his two outlaw brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) isn't enough for Jack. He's enticed by the power of the gangster figure and entranced by what moonshine money can buy. So like any fledgling entrepreneur Jack takes matters into his own hands. Recruiting crippled family friend/distillery mastermind Cricket (Dane DeHaan) the young whippersnapper sets out to brew his own batch sell it to top dog Floyd Banner and make the family rich. The plan works — but it puts the Bondurant boys in over their heads with a new threat: the corrupt law enforcers of Chicago.
Unlike many stories of crime life Lawless isn't about escalation. The movie drifts back and forth leisurely popping in moments like the beats of a great TV episode. One second the Bondurants could be talking shop with their female shopkeep Maggie Beauford (Jessica Chastain). The next Forrest is beating the bloody pulp out of a cop blackmailing their operation. The plot isn't thick; Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave preferring to bask in the landscapes the quiet moments the haunting terror that comes with a life on the other side of the tracks. A feature film doesn't offer enough time for Lawless to build — it recalls cinema-level TV currently playing on outlets like HBO and AMC that have truly spoiled us — but what the duo accomplish is engrossing.
Accompanying the glowing visuals and Cave's knockout workout on the music side (a toe-tapping mix of spirituals bluegrass and the writer/musician's spine-tingling violin) are muted performances from some of Hollywood's rising stars. Despite LaBeouf's off-screen antics he lights up Lawless and nails the in-deep whippersnapper. His playful relationship with a local religious girl (Mia Wasikowska) solidifies him as a leading man but like everything in the movie you want more. Tom Hardy is one of the few performers who can "uurrr" and "mmmnerm" his way through a scene and come out on top. His greatest sparring partner isn't a hulking thug but Chastain who brings out the heart of the impenetrable beast. The real gem of Lawless is Guy Pearce as the Bondurant trio's biggest threat. Shaved eyebrows pristine city clothes and a temper like a rabid wolverine Pearce's Charlie Rakes is the most frightening villain of 2012. He viciously chews up every moment he's on screen. That's even before he starts drawing blood.
Lawless is the perfect movie for the late August haze — not quite the Oscary prestige picture or the summertime shoot-'em-up. It's drama that has its moonshine and swigs it too. Just don't drink too much.
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Take This Waltz is beautiful maddening and sexy just like its protagonist Margot (Michelle Williams). Margot speaks like a toddler to her husband Lou (Seth Rogen). She's moody but playful and she has cutesy and symbolic neuroses like insisting on taking a wheelchair at the airport because trying to make her flight is the sort of limbo that makes her anxious. As she explains to a handsome stranger named Daniel (Luke Kirby) she's afraid of connections she's afraid she'll get lost and no one will ever find her. Almost everything about her is childish from her bright yellow raincoat to her junior high insults ("retard " "gaylord") to her shrieking embarrassment when she pees in the pool during a water exercise class.
"What's the matter with you " asks Daniel "generally?" That's the crux of the movie. What is the matter with Margot? Even Margot doesn't know the root of her restlessness. It seems the only person willing to call her on it is her sister-in-law Geraldine an alcoholic in recovery who is already anticipating her own failure.
Take This Waltz relies heavily on chance and metaphor but the emotional intensity can make you willing to take that leap. Williams carries the film as Margot while Rogen gets an excellent chance to show his emotional side as Lou a lovable bear of a man. Kirby plays Daniel with an easy heady sexuality that makes Margot's decision understandably difficult. Sarah Silverman drops her bad girl comedian persona and really shines as acerbic but insightful Geraldine.
After Daniel and Margot meet at a historic village (she's rewriting the tour book for the tourist destination and he's who knows a fan of colonial history) Daniel is seated next to her on the plane. He also happens to live down the street from her and Lou. By the time he's began to wonder what Margot's deal really is they're knee deep in a heated emotional affair. Their attraction is immediate and palpable an irresistible force felt off screen. Daniel verbally consummates their affair with an unforgettably hot monologue.
Lou on the other hand isn't quite on the same page as Margot when it comes to their sex life or future children. He's knee-deep in a chicken cookbook so the couple and their family and friends eat almost nothing but different chicken dishes at every mean. You can only eat so much chicken right? Daniel on the other hand is new. "New things are shiny " Geraldine tells her in the communal gym shower as the women are soaping up after that pool incident. "New things get old " comments a woman nearby. This is one of the strongest scenes in the movie where women of all ages shapes and colors scrub down unapologetically and talk amongst themselves in a private/public space.
Take This Waltz is a more realistic portrayal of an erratic young woman who in a different writer's hands would be one of those Manic Pixie Dream Girls. Even though Margot wears adorable onesies and has the playfulness of a child she also hurts a lot of people and is screwed up for no apparent reason. It's not always clear why these men are attracted to her and you can tell they aren't sure themselves but it's interesting and painful to watch it all unfold. Take This Waltz is beautifully shot full of buttery sunlight and lush parks and sweetly decorated abodes. Polley rolled the dice on a difficult protagonist and comes up a winner.